Mozambique · Indian Ocean coast & islands
The southern coast and Maputo.
The mainland coast south of Vilankulo is road-accessible from South Africa and quite different in character from the islands.
Photo George Swanepoel / Unsplash
Tofo and Barra are known for whale sharks and manta rays, and draw divers rather than resort travellers. Maputo itself has a distinct Portuguese-colonial architecture, a serious food culture and a growing set of good places to stay.
How do you get to Mozambique's southern coast?
Maputo has direct flights from Johannesburg and elsewhere, and the drive from Johannesburg through the Lebombo border takes around five to six hours. Ponta do Ouro is reached from KwaZulu-Natal through the Kosi Bay border, and Tofo from Inhambane, which has its own airport.
Where can you swim with whale sharks in Mozambique?
Off Tofo and Barra, near Inhambane, where whale sharks and manta rays feed close to the coast. Ocean safaris go out by boat to find them, and the reefs offshore are dived for mantas at cleaning stations.
What is there to see in Maputo?
The Baixa, Maputo's old lower town, with its central market, the domed railway station and Portuguese-era buildings; the Mafalala neighbourhood, with its history of writers and independence leaders; and a food scene built on prawns, grilled fish and peri-peri.
What is Ponta do Ouro known for?
Dolphins and diving. The Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve protects the coast down to the South African border, and boats take swimmers out to pods of bottlenose dolphins. Maputo National Park, just inland, has elephants on the beachfront wetlands.
How long should you spend on the southern coast?
Two nights in Maputo and three or four on the coast. The south combines well with a Kruger safari by road, and with KwaZulu-Natal across the border.
What is there to see in the southern coast and Maputo?
What does the southern coast and Maputo pair well with?
- Greater Kruger and the Lowveld, South AfricaThe Greater Kruger is South Africa's principal safari region: the national park itself plus a belt of private reserves sharing unfenced boundaries with it.
- KwaZulu-Natal and Zululand, South AfricaKwaZulu-Natal combines a warm coastline, the Drakensberg mountains and Big Five reserves that are malaria-free or low-risk.
- The Bazaruto ArchipelagoBazaruto is a national park of five islands with dunes, reefs and one of the last viable dugong populations in the western Indian Ocean.
Planning
Elsewhere in Mozambique
- The Quirimbas ArchipelagoThe Quirimbas are thirty-odd coral islands off the far north, and among the least developed island destinations in the Indian Ocean.
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